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Released
1985 · FILM

Better Off Dead

A lovelorn teen battles bizarre family antics, an overzealous paperboy and a meddling neighbor while trying to pull himself out of a breakup‑induced spiral before he loses everything.

“Insanity doesn't run in the family, it gallops.”

Directed by
Savage Steve Holland
Written by
Savage Steve Holland
Rated
MPA · PG
Runtime
97 min
ComedyRomance
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

Lane Meyer, a high school student, falls into a deep depression after being dumped by his girlfriend, who chooses jock and ski racing champion Roy Stalin instead. At the same time, Lane must cope with his quirky family, a persistent paperboy, and a loud neighbor. The situation becomes more complicated when the neighbor's mother hosts Monique, a charming French exchange student.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 19

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Alan BalsamShot by Isidore MankofskyScored by Rupert HineDesigned by Herman F Zimmerman

Box Office

1985 · Box office

✅ Made its money back — grossed 2.9× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$10.3M

Budget$3.5M
Worldwide gross$10.3M
break-even (2.5×)

Also known as

  • Lanny dreht aufde
  • Más vale muertoes
  • Gagner ou mourirfr
  • Sapore di hamburgerit

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